It's Only Life
by charmedmarie
Summary: Just a few short weeks after Lucas, Peyton and Sawyer come home tragedy strikes. Petyon is left to raise her daughter witout a father. Will the love and support of her friends be enough to help her make it? Breyton, eventually


Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea…..Everything else belongs to Mark.

Ok, this is set two years after Lucas, Peyton and Sawyer drove off into the sunset. (Which I didn't like, so I'll just leave it at that.) Brooke did stay in Tree Hill, but things didn't work out with Julian. He's back in LA or something, I dunno. He's not a major player in this story. She didn't sign her company over to Victoria or have to sell everything she had to pay back investors. Victoria will have some scenes in the story, but she will still be the evil hag we love to hate.

To all the Leyton fans, sorry but this story only mentions Lucas.

As always if you have any questions…..just ask.

First chapter is not that long, but I wasn't really sure where to end it. Hopefully it'll alright.

Now, onto the story.

**Chapter 1 Two Years**

Two years. In some ways it's not that long of a time. It flies by and leaves you with memories. Memories filled with happiness and hope maybe even a little sadness. In two years you can learn a lot. A lot about who you're with, a lot about the person you want to become. In some ways, two years just disappears and turns into time.

In some ways, two years is a life time. For some people that's exactly what it is. For Sawyer, that's exactly what it was. Sawyer was two now, and she held her mother's heart. She was walking and trying to talk. She had learned how to do some things for herself.

She was beautiful. Her skin wasn't pale, but it wasn't as dark as her fathers. She had very big and loose blonde curls that framed her cherub face. Those big blue eyes were just like her daddy's. That's what haunted her mom the most. Looking into those eyes were just like looking into Lucas'. In some ways it was a comfort, it was like he was still here. In other's it was a reminder. A reminder of what she would never have again, a reminder of the man she had loved for so long, and eventually lost.

She sat in silence with that beautiful baby girl asleep in her lap. The service had ended long ago, but for some reason she couldn't move. If she got up, if she walked away, it meant he was gone. It meant he was really wasn't ever coming home. She looked at the casket in front of her. It was blue, not as blue as his eyes though. Not as blue as Sawyers eyes. For the first time in a long time she thought it. _People always leave._

"Peyton?" She jumped a little as hand gently touched her shoulder.

"We have to go honey…we need to go." Karen watched as her daughter-in-law nodded. Andy kneeled down, picking the sleeping beauty up from her mother's lap. He walked away to the car. "Come on Peyton." She reached her hand out, relieved when the girl took it. She wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.

She walked with Karen to the car, but in a daze. She didn't remember the ride to the house, she didn't really remember talking to any of the people there. Sawyer was still asleep, which was good for now. At least her baby could rest. She found herself alone on the back porch, just staring at the fence in the back yard. Everything still felt so unreal. How could it be real? Just a little over a month ago she and Lucas had been packing to come home, to come back to Tree Hill. He was fine then, he was laughing and playing with Sawyer.

When they had gotten back into town the first thing they did was have dinner with their family, all of them. Brooke, Nathan, Haley, Jamie, Skills, Mouth and Millie, it was like old times. They sat and they talked and they laughed. It felt so right, it felt so normal. If she had just known then what would happen, maybe she could have stopped it, gotten him to a hospital sooner.

She kept playing the scene over and over in her head. They had just gotten home and she had taken Sawyer to her room to lay her down. She wasn't in there with him when it happened, but she could still picture it. Maybe he grabbed his chest, his face showing the pain he felt. She didn't come back to the living room until she heard him hit the floor. She didn't really run in there then, she had thought maybe he just dropped something, or maybe he just tripped. She didn't expect to see him there on the floor. She didn't expect to see those big blue eyes so lifeless. She didn't even get the chance to tell him good-bye.

"Hey buddy."

She didn't have to look up to know who it was, she would know that voice anywhere. "Hey."

Brooke walked around sitting in the empty chair next to her. She reached over, placing a hand on top of Peyton's. "You okay?" She felt a little dumb after that question. "Of course you're not ok." She shook her head. She always screwed up her words in situations like this. "I guess I just wanted to see if you need anything."

Peyton looked up, for the first time since Lucas had died she took in her appearance. She could see the tear stains on her face, her eyes were a little blood shot. She could see the worry reflecting in those big brown eyes. She tried her best at what she thought was a smile. "I don't know what to do Brooke."

"I know." She leaned in, giving her best friend the tightest hug she could. There wasn't anything to say at this point, there wasn't anything she could do to fix this. So, she did the only thing she could. She held her. She tried to put everything she felt in that gesture. As the blonde started to cry she reached up, stroking her hair. She hadn't seen Peyton this hurt since Elle. "I'm here Peyt. I'm here and I'll do everything I can to help you get through this. You and Sawyer both." She pulled back looking her friend in the eyes. "You can make it through this Pey, I know you can."

**The next morning**

She laid there in bed staring at the ceiling. She had gone from a moody teenager who hated early mornings, to an adult who loved waking up to her baby and her husband. She tried not to think about the past few days, but same as yesterday she failed. Today was different though. Today it was real. The funeral was over and her life without Lucas started now. She twisted the wedding ring on her finger. It wasn't fair. How could life give you your happy ending, then just snatch it away? She looked beside her at the mass of curls belonging to that beautiful little girl sleeping there. She knew if it wasn't for Sawyer she wouldn't have bothered to wake up. As quietly as possible she got out of bed. She knew she would have to start this day in order to make it through the ones that followed.

On her way to the kitchen she stopped by the living room. Brooke and Haley had stayed after everyone had left yesterday to help her clean up. She was surprised to see the brunette sleeping soundly on the couch. Taking note of her position it couldn't be comfortable. From the looks of it Brooke had fallen asleep sitting up. She hadn't gone home at all, she still had her clothes on that she was wearing yesterday. She picked up a throw blanket from the chair and as gently as possible she spread it across her friend.

Brooke opened her eyes as the blanket fell across her.

"Sorry, I was trying not to wake you."

"S'ok." She yawned, stretching her arms out at the same time. "Though this is kind of opposite." She smiled at Peyton's confused look. "I stayed to help take care of you, not the other way around." She pulled the blanket tight around her.

"It's fine Brooke. You know you could have borrowed some clothes to sleep in."

"It was late and you had already fallen asleep, I didn't want to wake you, or Sawyer." She smiled as she looked at the blonde. "I'm glad you're up."

"Well, I couldn't stay in bed all day. Lucas wouldn't have wanted that."

"You're right." Brooke stood up, leading Peyton to the kitchen. "How about I make you some breakfast?"

"You're kidding, right? Brooke we both know you can't cook." She couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

Brooke smiled, it was a relief to see Peyton smile, even hear her laugh. "Well, seeing as how our friend Haley stayed here and fixed us up with a ready-made breakfast casserole, I think I can handle preheating the oven and feeding two Scott women."

"Fair enough." She pulled out a chair at the table, still trying move past the fact that Lucas was really gone.

"Speaking of Scott women" Brooke turned around after having placed the dish in the oven. "When will little Miss Scott be waking up?" She tried to sound casual about it, but the truth was she had missed that little girl. She hadn't gotten the chance to spoil her like she wanted and she couldn't wait to get her in her arms now.

"Shouldn't be long. She never has been a late sleeper."

"She must have got that from her daddy." She regretted the words when she saw the sad look cross Peyton's face. "Sorry, I should have thought before I said that."

"It's ok." Peyton tried to put her bravest face on. "I have to get use to this, and Sawyer needs to hear things like that."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Brooke couldn't stand it any longer. "Ok, so I have to ask this, and I promise I'm not trying to push, I just really wanna know."

Peyton reached across patting Brooke's hand. "Just ask me Brooke."

"Are you two staying, I mean really staying. I want you to, but I understand if you can't. I just really want to know if we're going to lose you again."

Peyton nodded her head. She understood and she had already thought about this. "We're staying Brooke, for good. The whole reason we came back was because we wanted Sawyer to grow up around her family. We wanted her to know all of you." She ran a hand through her dark blonde hair. "I honestly don't think I can do this alone."

"You don't have to Peyt." She squeezed her hand in reassurance. "You won't ever be alone."


End file.
